Fiji Road Trip

Mine and the'hi' way

Juliietta Jameson discovered that there are no false turns on a new possible trip around Viti Levu. While beeping on a slippery side road through a small town in the southern part of Viti Levu, Fiji's big isle, my telephone stops to verify it and then hears a knocking on the front seat of the vehicle.

Looking for a viewpoint I traverse the stream, turn off the motorway and take a narrow country lane. I see road sign to Tavuni Hill Fortress. I forgot the sanctuary. I need about 20 min driving to get to the fortress, which was constructed around 1800 by a Tongan princely man, but when I get there, I am awarded with a fantastic sight of the city.

This road that surrounds the isle is known as Queens Highway, although there are two streets. Queens Road follows the southern shore, from Lautoka on the edge of Nadi to the city of Suva, about 220km. Kings Road follows the northern coastline, from Suva and back to Lautoka (265 kilometres).

Up until recently, a large part of Kings Road was not asphalted. It is now possible to ride on an asphalt road, albeit of different qualities, in both directions. This trip started on Denarau Island, the touristic centre near Nadi. It is hardly "the true Fiji", but I live in the Fiji Beach Resort near Hilton, which is a good starting point to discover the area.

Coming from Nadi, I am soon in a green country with colourful homes, small stores and places of cult. Some 50 kilometers later, just before I pass through the entrance doors of the painstakingly decorated Intercontinental Fiji Golf Resort and Spa near Sanasana, I see a man and two small kids on horseback.

Coming from the Intercontinental I travel to Suva along Queens Road, which follows the coral coast of the isle. I pass through every town and there are many, I am welcomed with ripples, shouts of "bula" and a smile. The journey from Nadi to Suva should take about 90 min, but it lasts three time without stopping for photos - and there are many.

I checked into the Five Princes Business Center in the German capitol, the old house of Harold Gatty, who established Fiji Airways. As I leave Nadi in the secluded Takalana Bay at the east coast of the sun, where I hope to see a lot of sharks, I drive up the Princes Road at Nausori, until I reach the Coli-i-Suva Forest Park and realize my error.

There' really are no false turns on a Fiji road trip. The Takalana is located on a promontory with a view of Moon Reef, where the Dolphin game. It is a small rural refuge on a rugged, washed-out road that forks off the Queens Highway near Korovou. Then after a nice dolphin watching in Takalana I started my next stop, the Wananavu Resort near Rakiraki, in the far northern part of the isle.

Do you want me to go further up the coastal road or back onto the highways? From the Korovou junction it had taken an hours to get to Takalana, along a 30-kilometre dirt road. There is no cause to be in any doubt that I need at least as much of the same amount of driving experience - on the itinerary.

They' ll definitely be on the Rakiraki highway before dark. "The road to Takalana is level and upright. Farther northerly, however, I am navigating through serpentines, sharp ups and downs and crossing rivers, while the road meanders along the bank and meanders through a mountains. Then, the car's gasoline lights flash as the road pavement - more goats' tracks than roads - is losing definitions under the guise of a lunarless city.

The Scarier is the way the road also seems to vanish under the penetrating green. What is a road trip without a little bit of tragedy? I cried a few times, prayed a great deal, then accepted, I made it to Kings Road, to a gas pump and on to the wonderfully relaxing Wananavu Resort for our evening meal.

For a few and a half day I explore the remote and authentic Rakiraki and its surroundings before returning to Nadi on Kings Road, where a procession of small shops (the smith is a highlight), automobiles, cattle, rugged lyre paintings, emerald green hills and breathtaking scenery can be seen.

Somebody said it takes 90 min to get from Rakiraki to Nadi. She has been Holiday Specialists, Tourism Fiji und Air Pacific. Travel to Nadi costs about $595 from Sydney (4h 55min) or $680 from Melbourne (5h 55min), inclusive of Tax.

Fiji Beach Resort & Spa by Hilton on Denarau Island has rooms from $F475 per room per day. The InterContinental Fiji Golf Resort & Spa has rooms from $F858 per room per day. The Takalana Bay Retreat, between Korovou and Rakiraki, has rooms from $F115 per guest per day. Rakiraki's Wananavu Beach Resort has rooms from $F320 per room per day.